A Crazy Day in the Life of an Army Wife

Memories

2009-07-23T11:19:00.004-04:00

I have been thinking a lot about the past and focusing on all the good times I had when I was growing up. A lot of those memories involved my grandfather, Andy. My pop pop died in 2003 at the age of 56, way too soon. He was such a great person. He loved his family so much, he would do anything for them. After all this time I still feel sad about his death. I have grieved and time has helped so much but I don't think I can ever be over it. I can still remember his smile and remember his laugh but I can not remember the way his voice sounded. I can not find any videos with him whatsoever and it is driving me insane.
I was pop pop's little girl growing up. I could of killed someone and he would of come up with some excuse for it and I would of gotten off, lol. I remember one time when I was maybe 6-7 and I had taken $20 from my mom's purse before going to his house. Later at his house my mom had found out and my grandfather told my mom that I didn't steal it, I was just holding it for her :)
I am really glad he got to meet Destiny(pic above). He died when she was 9 months old. I wish he could of the met the rest of his great grandkids. So far he has 5 with the newest addition being Ryleigh Ann, my cousins baby girl. She was born 2 days ago :) We named our son, Andrew, after him and plan on calling him Andy for short. He would of loved to see them and they would of equally loved him.
I wholeheartedly believe that everything happens for a reason, even if it is bad and ugly. However, I am still trying to find the reason as to why he died so young. It shouldn't of happened.
He had this poodle named Boomer. Boomer could be so mean...lol. If the kids fought in front of him he would flip out and if pop pop said the word "bath" around him he would get so mad...lol After pop pop died we thought that Boomer we go shortly after because they were so close. My Aunt Dawn ended up taking in Boomer who was like a million years old in dog years. We were so surprised that he lived for so long. He passed away last year and is now in doggy heaven :)
One of the many reasons why I want to move back to Maryland is because I want our kids to have the same relationship with their grandparents that I had with my grandfather. I miss my family and time is precious and we don't know how much time we truly have here on Earth. On the other hand it is so selfish of me. What about my husbands family? They live in Colorado and in California and he should be able to spend as much time with them as possible. Why does it have to be so complicated? I wish everyone could just move to Texas lol So if we never move to one of those states our kids will not have a close relationship with our family and that makes me feel so bad because they are truly missing something. So I guess the ultimate question is what do we do?

(Sorry this is so disorganized, I have so many thoughts and just need to get them out)

We won a vacation!

2009-06-22T09:12:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend we visited a resort, Silverleaf at Canyon Lake. We were to attend a 90 minute tour of their resort and afterwards we were to win a prize. Silverleaf is a timeshare company. The resort was really nice but it took 4 hours for the presentation. Timeshares are not so bad. This company offers extras in addition to a week in a condo. We would of bought one but we don't have the money right now so once we get the money we will be definitely going back to buy one. So after the presentation and them trying to pressure us into buying a timeshare we were sent to another room to get our gifts. We ended up with a 3 day trip to Las Vegas and a 5 day trip to Hawaii. We want to go to Hawaii in September to celebrate our wedding anniversary and are super excited. The tour alone was worth the vacations and you can visit their site to request a tour to get the prizes.

Mother's Day

2009-05-19T13:45:00.005-04:00

The puppy in the picture is our new puppy Allen. He is 6 months old and a sheppard mix like Dixie. I woke up to these beautiful flowers on Mother's Day. Mike and the kids also got me a jewerly box and made me breakfast in AND cleaned the house :D It was the best Mother's Day ever. The day before we had gone to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and I had gotten some sun.
The kids last day of school is in a few weeks. They are happy about getting out of school and Destiny is super excited about going into the 1st grade. She is doing really well. She can read, write, and spell now. I am so proud of her! Andrew is standing on his own, but to scared to walk.

A week of firsts....

2009-04-29T14:26:00.003-04:00

This past week has been very interesting. All of the kids experienced a new "first"
On Saturday morning, Madison woke us up to tell us that her "heart was broken" She even had both of her hands on her heart. It was too cute. It wasn't really broken, she had fell.
As you can see MJ loves matchbox cars. It is odd not too see him carrying one around. On Sunday, MJ thought he would be superman and jump off of the couch. When he jumped off the couch he landed on his hands and the matchbox car hit him in the nose. There was a lot of blood coming out and I thought I was going to be sick. Good thing Mike was here to clean it up. I felt so bad for him. He had his first bloody nose.
The day after MJ and Andrew collided into each other and the stupid car ended up hitting Andrew in the nose. Andrew then had his first bloody nose, don't worry it wasn't bad at all.
Finally, yesterday Destiny finally read us a whole book for the first time. We were and still are so proud of her. The extra tutoring is really helping her and it goes to show that all kids do not need to be medicated when they have ADHD.

Happy Birthday Destiny!

2009-04-17T12:16:00.003-04:00

Destiny turned 7 years old last week. We had her party the week before because her birthday was Easter weekend. On her actual birthday we went and saw Monsters vs Aliens 3-D then went to Outback for dinner. Instead of the traditional cake, we ordered some cupcakes from Cupcake Junction and Destiny had a strawberry cheesecake cupcake with sprinkles and a High School Musical ring on top, yummy! We got her a guinea pig, Oreo. I will post pictures soon of her.

Cute kids contest!

2009-04-01T13:43:00.001-04:00

I entered all of the Sanchez kids on a cute kids contest. They are on page 2 so go and vote for them please! Click on her banner to get to the page for voting.

Here are the details:

Please follow the contest rules for the votes to count...

You must vote for one BOY and one GIRL or your votes will be deleted!
(if you have already voted and havent done this, please do so today or i will delete your vote tonight)

You can only vote once per myspace account, for the entire contest!

Votes will only count through picture comments.

NO MAMMA DRAMA, this is a fun contest ;)

you may repost my message and tell your friends to add and vote for your lil one!

any questions? send me a message please.

Overwhelmed

2009-03-31T16:53:00.003-04:00

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately. I started my classes last week. I am so lost in my chemistry class. All those equations and stuff like that. Plus finding the time to do my homework, studying and projects every week for both of my classes.
Andrew has been clinging to me like velcro lately and Madison and MJ have been sooooo cranky. Sometimes I want to run away or hide in a room and lock the door.
On top of finding time to study, take care of kids, the house and my business I now need to find time to exercise. Next week I am having a test done to see if I have diabetes. I am showing more than one sign of having it so I really need to get that done and in order to get rid of it I need to start exercising more and eating healthier. I need a micro manager. Yup, someone to plan my every step then I can check off the list of things I need to do. I would do it myself but just making the list is overwhelming. Great Andrew is awake from his 10 minute nap. Did I mention he hasn't taken a decent nap in over a week?

Food for Thought

2009-03-25T16:42:00.002-04:00

So our new pastor, from Gateway Fellowship Church, wrote me an email and gave me this awesome link and in the link it was a passage from the bible:

Matthew 25:31-46 (New Living Translation)

The Final Judgment

³¹ “But when the Son of Man^a]">[a] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the nations^b]">[b] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^c]">[c] you were doing it to me!’

⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.^d]">[d] ⁴² For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

I hope this encourages people to help others, and maybe we don't know their situation but we can still give them something to eat or a bottle of water. Every human deserves to eat, to be warm, and to feel safe.

Seriously?

2009-03-25T13:58:00.002-04:00

So I have been thinking a lot and praying a lot and it just came to me. I want to help out other people. Yesterday, Mike and I met for breakfast and he ordered an extra burrito and we couldn't just throw it away. So I decided to take it downtown to see if anyone wanted it. I had ran into some people who hadn't eaten in awhile, anyway I gave them the burrito and they were so thankful and the feeling I got was just amazing. I talked to Mike about it and everything and how amazing would it be if we could help out more people. Unfortunately with 4 kids, a mortgage, car payment, a dog, etc. our funds are limited. So anyway I posted an ad on craigslist telling people our story and how we wanted to help out the community and to see if anyone wanted to join in. The result so far? I get flamed.
Here is my original post:
"My husband and I and our kids recently decided to start helping out homeless individuals in San Antonio. This weekend and hopefully every weekend after we will be going downtown to hand out gift bags of food, toiletries, and hygiene products to those who need it. We truly believe that we were meant to help out the less fortunate and believe that this is the way God wants us to serve our community. We have been truly blessed with our kids, our friends, and our family. When we were having a tough time, we had people there for us and now we want to help out others. We are asking for donations of any kind. Here is a list of some of the things we are looking for
Bottled/can drinks or water
Hygiene products (trial/travel size please)
Tooth brush, hair brush
Toiletries
Food such as individual snack packs, fruit cups, cereal bars, apples, pears, oranges, etc. Please nothing that will spoil immediately or that needs to be refrigerated.
Anything else you can think of.

If you don’t want to make a donation, then please get out there yourself and help them. I know some people think they are bums and why don’t they just work. We don’t know everyone’s situation. They could of lost their jobs and with the way the economy is going maybe they can’t find one. I don’t really know, all I know is that my family and I want to help.
Thank you,
Renee

Here is the comment I got

"If you need free stuff there is a category for that. Now all these people are looking for a handout for their abused family memebers or the homeless? I work and so does my hubby, we don't make a lot and support our children and pets, and pay all our own bills without any assistance. If you have a computer to write this bs, sell it. Or if you had the time to go to the library and write it, go to fast food joints and apply. I am only stating what everyone else here is thinking. You need someone to tell you to get off your behinds and get a job. Noone give these scammers free stuff. Go to their home and see who they are first. I would bet they have more than some of us who work hard for what we own. good luck to all of you who hope people on here will help you remain lazy"

What are these people on? Am I only one who is confused from their response? I don't remember saying that I had abused family members or that I was homeless? If you want to comment on this please do!

Our Week in review

2009-03-20T12:08:00.006-04:00

Last Sunday we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and went into their Wiggle World. Destiny got to meet Captain Feathersword and Henry the Octopus. It was a lot of fun and we will be going again this Sunday after church. Destiny also had field day at her school and won 2nd place in basketball throw and the 60 yard dash.

On Tuesday, Madison had her first day at preschool. She goes 3 days a week. Its a Mothers Day Out program through a church but it is preschool based. She loves her teacher and her new friends. Once she starts pre-k, MJ will be going to the MDO program as well to get a head start on school and so I can get a little more of a break! :P
Also, my classes start next week, I am taking an medical intro course and a chemistry class,which I am very nervous about.

On Wednesday, Andrew finally sat up by himself. He is also starting to get crawling down. He tried prunes this week for the first time and hated them, can't blame him. He is teething still and is starting to bite more and more, breastfeeding isn't going to last much longer. I can't believe how fast he is growing, pretty soon him and Mj will be the same size!

MJ is starting this new spiderman phase. He thinks he is spiderman. He will "shoot" webs out of his wrist and make a funny sound at the same time. It's really cute. He is getting big as well. He even said Andrew the other day and when you ask him a question he will nod his head.

Awful, not so awful weekend.

2009-03-16T12:03:00.004-04:00

So what started out to be an awful weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. After a day of shopping and making homemade chicken noodle soup on Saturday, I sat at my laptop to check our bank account. I saw something strange, our account was dramatically low. I clicked on the list of purchases to see some details and I saw all of these strange purchases from Pizza Hut in the UK and other crazy places. A ton of money was stolen from our bank account. Come to find out someone stole a bunch of credit card numbers from USAA and was making random purchases on them. We had to cancel our cards and are waiting on new cards. We won't get our money back for a week or so, which is okay because our mortgage isn't due til the 1st so have some time.
Sunday was much better. We went to a different church and it was awesome. We are def. going back next week. They meet in a different movie theater and the pastor is really nice. The music was good and the message was great. After church we went to Cici's pizza, which is really good. They have a salad, soup,pasta,pizza, and dessert buffet for like $6.00. So after filling our tummies we took the 3 oldest kids for hair cuts, MJ no longer looks like a girl woohoo! Soon after we went to Costco to fill up on fruit and yogurt because we ran out and we can't survive without fruit and yogurt! On the way home Mike was like hey lets go to Sea World, they closed at 6pm and it was approaching 330. We then decided on going to Six Flags Fiesta Texas and bought a season pass. We rode the train and stopped by the new Wiggles World where the kids rode in the Big Red Car and rode some other rides.
What started out to be an awful weekend, turned into a not so awful weekend :)

College Bound

2009-03-11T15:51:00.003-04:00

Mike and I have been talking a lot lately about our future career wise. I recently requested some info for online colleges and now my phone keeps ringing and its sooo annoying. So finally yesterday, I answered the phone and it was Kaplan University. After on the phone with them an hour I am in the process of getting enrolled into their Health Sciences program where I will be completing my Bachelors degree in about 3 1/2 years. I am so excited. At first I was thinking about nursing but sticking needles in other people just horrifies me so I asked the guy on the phone what other programs in the health field are offered. After reviewing all of them I decided that health sciences would be the best choice for me because I can do a lot of things with that kind of degree. Everything is strictly online so I don't have to leave the house and find a babysitter for the kids. I will be taking 2 classes at a time so I should be able to manage it along with my business and my family. If my mom can do it, anyone can. She used to attend college and work full time, take care of all of us plus still have time for a social life. She is one unique lady. Mike is thinking about completing his degree before getting out of the Army. I am really excited and hope everything goes right. If I am not accepted for financial aide, I may not get to attend so please pray for me and hope that I am eligible!

Lots of New

2009-02-25T13:54:00.002-05:00

We found a new church and went on Sunday. They meet in a movie theater, like our old church. It was really nice, the music was kind of loud, but the message was great. We are looking forward to going there again. I finally had my site redone, so stop by and take a look :) Destiny starts soccer tomorrow and she is really excited. Andrew is crawling backwards and is very active.

Busy unpacking

2009-02-17T09:56:00.004-05:00

As you can see we finally bought a house and it closed last week. We are unpacking and are almost settled in. We also adopted a Sheppard mix named Dixie, from a no kill shelter. She is 2 years old and is very playful and loves children. I am also redoing my website, I got a new logo and I will also giving it a well needed face lift. San Antonio is really nice and there are plenty of things to do. I am starting to feel a little home sick. We found this new church that meets in a movie theater and we will be attending there for the first time on Sunday.

Valentines Day Giveaway!!!

2009-01-16T10:19:00.002-05:00

Here is your chance to win $30 worth of Valentines Day presents for that special child in your life! From now until February 1st everytime you purchase an item your name will be thrown into a hat. For example if you purchase 6 items then your name will be counted 6 times. I will draw a name on February 2nd and I will be sending the lucky winner $30 worth of Valentines Day goodies. I will contact the winner immediately and ask them there preference for a boy or girl. Good luck everyone!

http://nu2you.mybisi.com

It wasn't meant to be.

2009-01-08T10:52:00.004-05:00

The other day we found the perfect house for us. It had no flaws and had everything we wanted plus more. So we told the realtor immediately that we wanted to make an offer. She went back to her office filled out the paper work and was about to send it over when she decided to call the agent on the house to see how they preferred the paper work. He told her that he literally had an offer on the house 5 minutes before she called and they already accepted it.............grrrrrrrrrrrr I am so sad and mad. This was the perfect house. So now we are off looking at more houses.

Of Course...

2009-01-05T17:53:00.002-05:00

<--------- Picture of my brother TJ, my mom, and my brother Dylan

So we found 2 houses that we loved and tried to make offers on them but later found out that the taxes were $4500. ouch. So we declined and we had 2 candidates left. Mike went in this morning to check in with his unit and found out we arent going to be stationed at Fort Sam. Instead we will be at Lackland AFB, which isn't so bad, only 30 minutes from here BUT that means we need to find houses in a different area of San Antonio. Ugh, I can't wait until we are in a house we love and can afford. It is really stressful.

Moving Chaos!

2009-01-03T22:24:00.004-05:00

It has been awhile since I have written anything. Its been so crazy. On December 12th Mike returned from Afghanistan. We have moved since then, road tripped and have visited family in Colorado and in Dallas and have finally arrived in San Antonio. We looked at 6 houses today to purchase and so far like 2 of them. We will be looking at more before we make an offer on one. Everyone is doing well, ever since moving here Andrew's breathing issues have cleared up completely. MJ is still teethin and Desi can't wait to get back into school. Madison wants to go school too so we will be looking for something for her once we get settled in a house. I miss all of my family but I am happy we are moving away, its like a fresh start and I get to experience another part of our country. Today it was 75 degrees and the kids were able to go swimming outside. I'm still working on my business in the middle of everything too. Mike is doing well and is still adjusting to our chaotic family. He should be going back to work in about 2 weeks. My brother Dylan came with us as well to get a fresh start. He will be joining the military later this year. San Antonio is nice, I guess. The parts I have seen so far are kind of ghetto and certain areas are not great because of gangs and stuff. We are looking at houses in good neighborhoods with good schools so we should be fine. I will update again later, hopefully tomorrow. Night!

Aiden

2008-12-03T21:02:00.001-05:00

Aiden was our kitty. He is 18 months old and Mike got him for me last year before he deployed. Unfortunately Andrew has RAD(Restrictive Airway Disease) and it can either go away or turn into asthma and having Aiden around is making it worse on Andrew. I gave him to a lady and her 5 year old daughter last night and I feel really sad that we had to get rid of a member of our family but it was in the best interest of our son. He is a really good cat too, I miss him :(

Insomnia

2008-11-26T00:25:00.001-05:00

There are so many things going on and I can't sleep. It is 12:27am right now. Maybe I had too much caffeine today (sorry babe). There are just so many exciting things happening. Like Tomorrow is my grandfathers 61st birthday, well he would of been 61 :( Thanksgiving is in 2 days and its also my brothers 20th birthday. Happy birthday Pop-pop Andy and Tj. Dylan turned 17 on the 22nd, happy b-day to you too. I love all 3 of you very much! Mike will be here in approx. 21 days, wooooohooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! Also, my site is starting to do really well. I had a few orders today :D Also, the chaplain was supposed to bring over some Thanksgiving Dinner for me but he hasn't showed up yet, I was going to give it to a needy family :(
I also am doing a sale for Black Friday as well. 40% off everything in my store with a $20 or more purchase and still doing FREE shipping! Just enter code BLACK upon checkout. Reminder, I accept paypal, amazon and google checkout. http://nu2you.mybisi.com. If you are looking for something in particular and don't see it let me know and I will try to get it for you :)
Happy Holidays everyone!

2008-11-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

I love this picture of Destiny! Shes so pretty and getting so big. Shes starting to grow out of her size 6 clothes already. Where has the time gone? I can't believe its almost Thanksgiving. We have about 3 more weeks or so until Mike is FINALLY home :D I just have to have the house organized for the movers, which is a challenge since I have zero organizational skills. I am really considering selling everything and starting from scratch....lol Mike won't let me though..booooo
Andrew went for a chest x-ray the other day and she saw some inflammation so for the next 4 days he will be on steriods but he is sounding better and better everyday.
To the right you will see an advertisement for BigCrumbs. Its this cool site where you earn money back everytime you shop at stores you already shop at online. It's free and fun so check it out!
I am also offering Free shipping on my site http://nu2you.mybisi.com until December 20th. I just added some new with tag items from Limited Too, Oshkosh, etc. My fabulous readers can also get $5 off your next $20 purchase or more by entering discount code BISI upon checkout.
If you are looking for anything in particular send me an email and let me know and I will try to hunt it down for you :)
Everyone have a fabulicious evening!

Emergency Phone numbers

2008-11-10T21:23:00.000-05:00

Pretty neat! Click on the picture too see a clearer view of this!

Andrew Deanie

2008-11-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

Andrew looks so funny in this picture lol I can't believe he is 10 weeks old already, that means its been 8 weeks since Mike left. The time has flown by but yet has dragged! We have another 4 weeks or so until he will be home. We think Andrew is allergic to our cat, Aiden. He has been weezing lately and the nebulizar is not really helping.

Lots of New Things!!

2008-11-08T16:29:00.001-05:00

So many new things going on! I don't know if I mentioned this before but Destiny has lost both of her front teeth. Also, we are moving BEFORE Christmas! Very stressful! We will be staying with my mom until the day after Christmas and then we will be Colorado bound.
I have been trying to come up with different ways to make money while staying at home but there isn't much out there and you have to be careful because of all the scams. I really don't wanna do daycare full time. So I decided to start my own online business. My kids are growing quickly and barely wear their clothes so I am going to sell them online. Hopefully it will work out so Mike and I can live more comfortably. The site is http://nu2you.mybisi.com and the link is also on the right hand side. I haven't posted in awhile because I have been so busy with getting ready for the move, taking care of the kids, and launching this new site.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T20:20:00.000-04:00

The kids had a blast trick or treating. We were only gone an hour. I didn't dress Andrew up. I had him bundled up because he has had this horrible cough for the past month and hes been really congested. I took him to the doc yesterday and they tested him for RSV and thankfully it came up negative. She thinks it could be asthma because he has been weezing lately. I give him a nebulizar a few times a day to help with it and it seems to be working so far.
I took Destiny to go see High School Musical 3 last night and it was actually a really good movie. She seemed to enjoy it but near the end she was ready to go. Destiny also lost her front tooth today!

Insurance

2008-10-29T19:20:00.000-04:00

I think car insurance is a total rip off. It's like you pay all of this money per month in case something happens right but the minute something does happen and you claim it on your insurance, your insurance goes up. It doesn't make any sense to why it goes up. Its like you are already paying money in case something does happen. Does that make sense? And Health insurance is completely ridiculous, yes military does have good insurance. But what about everyone else? Some people are paying $300 plus a month for health insurance for their families and still have to pay a co-pay. Which is sad because since insurance is so high most people can't afford it and go without health insurance. I think that the insurance companies need to make health care more affordable instead of trying to get rich. It's a brutal cycle.

Moving!

2008-10-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a few days, I have been busy with our kids and scrubbing egg out of the carpet, again.
Mike told me the other day that we will be moving around the 28th of December. I am so excited yet sad at the same time. Excited for the obvious reasons. I am sad because I won't be around my side of the family anymore. I will miss them but not Maryland. There are too many memories here, mostly bad. It will be better for me to live somewhere new and different.
This is a picture of Destiny from July when she stayed at Aunt Dawn's house for a few days. I can't believe how big she is getting! She is very exciting about the move to Texas. She can't wait to meet new friends and have a new school. Her and Madison have been fighting for days and I am ready to pull my hair out! I hope this doesn't last very long, I dread the teenage years.

Leave

2008-10-23T20:44:00.000-04:00

I love this picture of us even though I look awful! I can't believe its been almost 8 weeks already since Andrew arrived. Time is flying by and at the same time moving slow. Andrews lowest weight was 5lbs 10 oz and he now weighs 11lbs. I can't believe how big he has gotten. He barely fits into 0-3 month clothes now so those will be going on UAIT pretty soon. Its been 6 weeks since Mike redeployed and it feels like its been a lifetime since has been here. I would totally recommend to anyone facing a deployment to take your leave near the end of it though because that helps a lot. I hate the last few weeks leading up to a homecoming though because the days feel like months. Especially the hours leading up to seeing him getting off of the plane. I know when my mother-in-law and the kids and I went to go pick up Mike from the airport I just kept staring at the clock on the wall. I swear it seemed like the second hand on the clock wouldn't budge at all. I remember telling mom wow 3 more minutes....and it didn't feel like 3 minutes it felt like 3 hours. When I saw him walking our way I wanted to cry and just run to him but hey I was like 9 months pregnant and I didn't want to seem desperate or anything. I was worried that Madison wouldn't remember him but she ran up to him and gave him a big hug and that made my heart melt. She ended up hogging him the rest of the day...lol Mj even remembered him too. Seeing him on the webcam all those months really helped MJ to remember what Mike looked like. I am just trying to stay busy to help the time pass and it does help.

Samaritan's Purse

2008-10-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

A member of the church that I attend brought in some information about Samaritan's Purse. They are a non-profit organization that accepts donations of shoeboxes with toys, toiletries and school supplies to be sent to less fortunate kids from other countries for Christmas. They also include a book that talks about God and introduces them to Jesus which I think is amazing. My family and I will be putting together some boxes personally and if anyone would like to donate a box then let me know or if you want to make a monetary donation or get more information you can contact me or go to their website, their link is on the right hand side.

2008-10-22T08:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday MJ brought his juice cup to me and said "cup" I was so proud of him because he really doesn't say much of anything. He is better with his motor skills. He loves climbing and building towers and pushing his cars off of the coffee table. I can't believe how fast kids grow. Destiny will be 7 in April. Where has the time gone? Madison can read her numbers and knows her shapes and Andrew is starting to hit the toys on his swing.
Last week Destiny and I carved a pumpkin for Halloween and now its starting to smell really bad. Did we do something wrong or are they supposed to do that? Out to the dump it goes!
I have had the kids Halloween costumes for some time now. I got the boys off of ebay for less than $5 each and the girls we got from KB Toys for $20. Destiny decided to go with the Hannah Montana costume, of course. Madison picked out a princess fairy costume. MJ is going to be spiderman and Andrew Deanie(I love calling him that..lol) is going to be a pirate. It should be exciting to take them trick or treating next week.
I took Andrew to the doctor today because he has been super congested and some doctor (not his) looked at him, heard his chest and was like there is nothing we can do. We were literally in and out of that office within 15 minutes. He now weighs 11lbs.
I also picked up the Girl Scout cookies for those of you who ordered. For anyone else that has not yet ordered and would like too let me know and we will hook you up! Yay we finally shipped off Mike's package and started to send off birth announcements, yes I know I am really late on that.

Frustrated Mommy/ My relationship with God

2008-10-21T21:41:00.000-04:00

Today after Destiny got home from school I had to go to the grocery store and then mail off a care package for Mike, since I was a slacker and didn't do it yesterday. Madison was cranky because ever since Mike redeployed she has refused to take a nap so she was exhausted. Destiny was cranky because she didn't want to go to bed last night and didn't get much sleep and she hates going to the grocery store. Add that together and you get a stressful frustrating shopping trip. Thankfully Andrew slept the whole time and Mj was content since he was just finished with his nap. So in the 20 minutes it took to go shopping for a few things I had to stop at least 15 times to tell them to stop doing this or that or whatever. Unfortunately for daddy his package did not get sent off today, yet again. Sorry honey. By the time I got home I was just mentally worn out. Therefore I decided to go onto Craigs List and search for a part-time babysitter and luckily a SAHM on post just listed an ad for watching kids. She hasn't responded, but I hope she does soon so I can get her to watch 2 of the kids and get all or most of my errands done within a day.

Everytime I get stressed or the kids push me I always wonder if it a test of my patience from God. I pray everyday for patience. Maybe I should stop praying for patience and ask God to stop testing me so much. I have been praying a lot more lately too. I feel closer to God but my relationship with him is not where I want it to be. I have already been saved and baptized, which was amazing, but I still don't feel close. Does that make any sense? I know I love God and I know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins but I still don't know if I really am going to Heaven...any advice?

Grateful

2008-10-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

Brooke is a genious! She finally got a family picture of us all looking at the same time and smiling at the same time! She is an awesome photographer who has very reasonable rates. If you ever want to check out her site and make an appointment with her the link is on the right hand side to her site.
See Mj's super cute outfit? I got that from this site for families to save money and save the environment at the same time. It's called www.uanditrade.com. You basically trade your items that you have grown out of for new items you can use. No money is involved. There is a point system that is used instead and the only time you pay for something is when someone requests your item and you ship it to them. It saves the environment because you are reusing other peoples items. I have gotten my kids wardrobes already for winter off of there and some other great things for our house. There is a forum on there as well so I have met some amazing women off of there as well.
I am so glad we were able to get family pictures taken before Mike left again. I am grateful that he was able to make it for the birth too. I swear I like prayed every single day for him to make it home...ultimately it was up to God. I strongly believe everything happens for a reason. We had a message at church last week, there link is on the side too :) There was a reason why I was put through 5 years of hell. Those 5 years of hell have brought me to a place where I couldn't be happier. God has given me a wonderful husband who I couldn't love more, amazing kids, who drive me crazy every once in awhile, haha. He has given me amazing friends and has brought me to a new church, and even though my husband is gone I am still happy. Even though he can't be with me physically, he is still always with me. Ugh, I just can't wait for him to get back...lol
Ok now I am off to play with the kids and talk to my gorgeous husband :)

My first entry

2008-10-20T21:21:00.000-04:00

I just needed a place to vent and to let out my frustrations. So I decided to do an online diary but they wouldn't give me enough space, I guess I speak too much..lol So anyway I found this so here I am. I am a stay at home mom of 4 wonderful kids. 2 girls and 2 boys. I am also married to an amazing soldier named Michael. He is currently deployed but should be returning home in December, hopefully in time for Christmas.
When I write I just spill out what I am thinking so it may be disorganized and make no sense to you but it will make plenty of sense to me and it will help me relieve some stress.

I can't wait for Mike to get back. I miss him like crazy! Madison is driving me up the wall! Every since Mike redeployed she has been acting up and not sleeping well, I am slowly losing my patience, but at the same time she is soooo smart and she is now potty trained, yay for me! Destiny is a mini teenager who back talks and can be disrespectful and doesn't like helping me out anymore unless she is in the mood. Shes 6 going on 16! I still think of MJ as my baby but hes 16 months old now and I really need to get rid of that pacifier. Everytime I look at him I think of Mike. MJ looks just like him minus the blonde hair and blue eyes...lol Andrew is getting so big! He is my fat baby!

I guess this is all for the night, I have so much more to say but I don't want to bore you even more than I already have. I will try to write an entry everyday but that might not happen, but I hope you do come back every once in awhile and visit!